Friday, November 22, 2013

Lacking original holiday ideas for your loved ones? Come to our annual Morbid Anatomy Holiday Fair for a merry weekend sponsored by Brooklyn Brewery, where you will find taxidermy, curiosities and other unique artifacts to thrill and delight.

The Fair will take place in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th of December from noon to 6 PM. If you are interested in selling your creations or collections at the Morbid Anatomy Holiday Fair, please send an email to morbidanatomylibrary [at] gmail.com.

Following
is a guest post about about friend of Morbid Anatomy Al Ridenour's
attempts to revive the art of "Krampusfest" in his hometown of Sunny Los Angeles. Al is
part of a group of medical art-themed provocateurs called Art of Bleeding; more on them here. Maybe we can persuade Al to stage Krampus fest here in NYC next year?

For more on Krampus and his history, click here; to find out about the Morbid Anatomy Krampus costume party (!) on December 14th, click here. To order Krampus holiday cards of your very own, click here.

As the Morbid Anatomy’s annual Krampus celebration approaches,
I’ve been invited to share a bit about how we here in the relentlessly
sunny city of Los Angeles are now also falling under the shadow of an
ancient Alpine devil.

About a year ago, several friends and I resolved to create Krampus suits and stage California’s first Krampuslauf,
(“Krampus run” though “shamble” might be more accurate). This plan
expanded into a frighteningly ambitious series of activities dubbed “Krampusfest.”

While perhaps the most overweening, we are not the first American Krampus troupe. That credit goes to Philadelphia Krampuslauf,
now in its third year. Groups in Portland, OR, Detroit, Athens, GA,
Bloomington, IN, and New Orleans are also now part of this burgeoning
movement.

Much of this began in 2004 when collector Monte Beauchamp
began baiting us with his lovely series of books documenting the
popular Krampus cards that circulated in earlier centuries. What pushed
me over the edge, however, was the discovery of European videos that
presented the Krampus not as a antiquated ephemera, but a tradition
still very much alive and ready to chase you down the street. Pouring
over online footage, I concluded that the scenes shot in the Gasteiner Valley near Salzburg seemed the most unrestrained and boisterous, so that is where I convinced my wife we needed to go.

Returning to my hotel giddy from my first night of live Krampus
tussling, and with snow still wet in my hair, I opened the fateful email
message announcing the creation of an LA Krampuslauf. It came from Al
Guerrero, a fellow organizer and co-conspirator of the Los Angeles lodge
of The Cacophony Society,
a national group dedicated to eccentric mischief which flustered
journalists of the 1990s came to define as “culture jamming” and “flash
mobs.” We’d never sported horns or wielded switches, but had honed some
guerilla theater fly-by-the-seat-of your pants spectacle-making
skills. Krampus didn’t seem like a big jump.

Each of our suits did end up consuming sizable investments of time
and money. Many of the costumes were sewn weft-by-weft, and the masks
sculpted from scratch and topped by real animal horns. Right now there
are about 15 of us, and we’re looking forward to meeting more recruits
at our public Krampus run.

The troupe will also storm in on some less traditional indoor events, including our Krampus Ball and Krampus Rumpus,
themed shows juxtaposing performances of traditional Schuhplattler
dances and alpenhorn solos by a local Bavarian cultural group with acts
like Santa Claus Nomi (the band Timur and The Dime Museum working
with former Nomi composer Kristian Hoffman) as well as horned and
pelt-wearing parody bands including The Kramps, Krampwerk, and Krammpstein.

And there is a group exhibition
at Santa Monica’s Copro Gallery displaying Krampus-inspired artwork
by a horde of artists including Chet Zar, Bob Dob, Luke Cheu, Travis
Louie, and even Tim Burton. For this event, Krampus LA will contribute
a performance and outdoor “Krampus Habitat” installation omplete with
cages, screaming children and hellish photo-ops a-plenty.

One of our purposes in creating this crazy patchwork of events was to
offer an unfamiliar public different ways to dip their toes into a new
tradition. Not everyone can dedicate the resources to creating
traditional costumes, but we’re hoping that some uncostumed attendees at
this year’s events will be inspired to return to us next fall for
workshops geared toward making traditional costumes.

Maintaining the core traditions under the camouflage of Californian
kookery is important to us. Toward that end, we’re also reaching out to
European groups,
and have befriended a couple participants from different communities
around Salzburg. Having previously planned trips to California, we met
with each of them for informal Q and As. They were both surprised and
initially perhaps a bit baffled at our enthusiasm and efforts toward
creating costumes imitating their homegrown traditions. Usually things
run differently. For many Europeans the obliteration of local holiday
customs by the ever-expanding presences of the American Santa Claus, (“Weihnachtsmann,”
i.e., “Christmas Man” in German) is a hot-button issue, so amid all our
chaotic street devilry, we hope our group and other American Krampus
enthusiasts might be tipping the scales a bit toward a happier
equilibrium.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Since 2008, Morbid Anatomy has been hosting some of the best scholars, artists, and writers working along the intersections of the history of anatomy and medicine, death and the macabre, religion and spectacle. As many Morbid Anatomy readers already know, we are in the midst of producing a brand new, hard cover, lavishly illustrated, full color, 500 page (!) book to celebrate this legacy: The Morbid Anatomy Anthology.

Included are essays by Evan Michelson (star of Science Channel’s hit show Oddities) on the catacombs of Palermo, Simon Chaplin, (head of the Wellcome Library) on public displays of corpses in Georgian England, mortician Order of the Good Death's Caitlin Doughty on demonic children, and Paul Koudounaris, author/photographer of Empire of Death on a truck stop populated with human skulls. In addition are pieces on books bound in human skin, fin de siècle death-themed Parisian cafes, post-mortem photography, eroticized anatomical wax models, taxidermied humans and other animals, Santa Muerte, “artist of death” Frederik Ruysch, and much more.

The book is now at the printer and should be in the hands of those who pre-ordered or supported the book on Kickstarter sometime in February. Above is a snapshot of the cover proofs we just got messengered over to us yesterday.

If you are interested in pre-ordering a copy and have not yet done so, you can still do so on the new Morbid Anatomy Museum Gift Shop by clicking here. You will also find full specs and table of contents there. If you have already supported this project, we cannot thank you enough for helping make this gorgeous and very special thing a reality. THANK YOU and we cannot WAIT to see what you think; we hope you love it as much as we do!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Morbid Anatomy has so many exciting happenings coming up that we hardly know where to begin.

This week, we hope you'll join us for one or two lectures by visiting scholar Brandy Schillace. Her first talk, on the topic of "obstetrical phantoms" (middle image) and the "uncanny valley," will take place this Thursday night. Her second, this Friday night, will be on "Dracula, Degeneration and Syphilitic Births at the Fin de Siècle," and will feature thematic music and artistinal cocktails by Friese Undine (top image).

In the weeks to come we have something to suit every taste; on December 7th, we are delighted to host London-based Chiara Ambrosio for a talk/screening on "Tarantism: Dance, Possession and Exorcism in Southern Italy (bottom image)" followed by All the Saints You Should Know's Elizabeth Harper's talk on the relics of Paris on December 9th. On December 10th, we hope you'll join us for "Danse Macabre: Death and Material Ecologies in Brittany" with art historian Maura Coughlin.

Following this, we have a weekend of parties and specatacle! On Friday the 13th (!) of December, we will celebrate the date and Morbid Anatomy's birthday with "THE DEVIL - A Celebration" featuring an Illustrated lecture by The Midnight Archive's Ronni Thomas; an artifact show and tell; live music by Bird Radio; DJed tunes and cocktails by Friese Undine; and sweets by Rachel Ridout. The very next night--Saturday December 14th--you won't want to miss our annual party devoted to Krampus, St. Nicholas' cloven-hooved, chain-swinging, lolling-toungued, child-punishing Eastern-European sidekick. Come in your best Krampus costume to win prizes! That same weekend, from 12-6 on Saturday and Sunday, you won't want to miss the Morbid Anatomy Holiday Fair, with a variety of vendors serving your alternative
holiday needs including taxidermy, waxworks, anthropomorphic insect
tableaux and more. More on that soon.

Known
by a variety of names—“this most curious machine,” “this mock woman,”
and the “celebrated Apparatus” —Dr. William Smellie’s mechanized
obstetrical phantom was both science and spectacle in the eighteenth
century. Strangely, however, though crucial to the training of at least
900 man-midwives in ten years, the machine disappears from both the
actual and rhetorical "scene" of 18th-century obstetrical science.

This
illustrated talk will explore the mitigating factors contributing to
the machine's disappearance. Why was such a valuable teaching tool
auctioned to the public after Smellie’s death? Why did famed
obstetrician William Hunter agree to sell his own copy of the machine to
Dr. Foster of the Dublin Rotunda? And why—after so much popular
debate—does the machine disappear from public notice by the latter part
of the century? Dr. Schillace will also document her own rather
circuitous journey of discovery, that is, the necessary labor of
unearthing (if not birthing) a medical artifact’s unusual history.Dr. Brandy Schillace
is an interdisciplinary, medical-humanist scholar. She writes about
cultural production, history of science, and intersections of medicine
and literature. She is the managing editor of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry,
an international journal of cross-cultural health research and a guest
curator and blogger for the Dittrick Medical History Museum. Dr.
Schillace was the keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the
Archivists and Librarians in the History of Health Sciences 2013, and is
the recent recipient of the Chawton House Library Fellowship (for study
of 18th century women writers) and the Wood Institute travel grant from
the Philadelphia College of Physicians. She has also an edited book
collection under contingent contract with Cambria Press: Birthing the Monster of Tomorrow: Unnatural Reproductions. For a selection of recently published work, please visit http://fictionreboot-dailydose.com/publications-and-press.

Image: A
late eighteenth-century “birthing phantom.” Unlike Smellie’s machine,
these were not intended to be exactly like the living body, but rather a
basic replica allowing midwives to understand the position of the child
in the birth canal. By permission of the Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum
_______________________________________________

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is often read as a narrative of reverse colonization, revealing fears of degeneration at the fin de siècle.
Anxieties over the decline of empire and—as both symptom and
consequence—the degeneration of masculinity in Victorian Britain
resulted in a number of dystopic narratives, each revealing an uneasy
relationship between evolution and devolution, sexuality, sexual
identity and mental health. However, the signal terror of Stoker’s
vampires lies not only in their overt sexuality and promiscuity—but also
in their fecundity. As Van Helsing warns, the vampire is not a single
foe but a potential army. Both “father” and unnatural mother, Count
Dracula is capable of reproducing the undead—and yet his victims do not,
it seems reproduce themselves.

In this presentation Dr. Schillace
will explore accounts of syphilitic infection as a means of
understanding the complexities of infection among the “innocents,” Lucy
Westenra and the children she victimizes. Culminating in a
re-examination of the only human birth in Stoker’s novel—Mina Harker’s
son Quincy—this project seeks to provide new insight into 19th century
anxieties about degeneration’s naissance.

Dr. Brandy Schillace
is an interdisciplinary, medical-humanist scholar. She writes about
cultural production, history of science, and intersections of medicine
and literature. She is the managing editor of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry,
an international journal of cross-cultural health research and a guest
curator and blogger for the Dittrick Medical History Museum. Dr.
Schillace was the keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the
Archivists and Librarians in the History of Health Sciences 2013, and is
the recent recipient of the Chawton House Library Fellowship (for study
of 18th century women writers) and the Wood Institute travel grant from
the Philadelphia College of Physicians. She also an edited book
collection under contingent contract with Cambria Press: Birthing the Monster of Tomorrow: Unnatural Reproductions. For a selection of recently published work, please visit http://fictionreboot-dailydose.com/publications-and-press.

In
this intimate, hands-on class (limited to only six students), we will
study the happy and hoppy rabbit! Students will create a fully-finished
rabbit mount in a naturalistic or anthropomorphic position. There is
also the option to create a "trophy style" shoulder mount (where the
head and shoulder is mounted on a wooden plaque). When purchasing
ticket, please specify which you would like to do.

Students will
learn everything involved in producing a finished mount - from initial
preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, to proper technique and dry
preservation. The class will teach how to create a wrapped body form
using the rabbit's own body as reference, and how to reconstruct a
rabbit head using the skull as reference. Students will also be
introduced to the techniques of ear turning and ear carding. The use of
anatomical study, reference photos, and detailed observation will also
be reviewed as important tools in recreating the natural poses and
expressions that magically reanimate a specimen. A selection of props
will be provided, however, students are welcome to bring their own bases
and accessories if something specific is desired. All other supplies
will be provided for use in class.

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman
is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy practice was sparked by a
lifelong fascination with natural mythology and everyday oddities. After
a journey filled with trial and error, numerous books, and an inspiring
class (Sue Jeiven's popular Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at
Observatory!), she has found her calling in creating sickly sweet and
sparkly critters. Beginning with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew
to include domestic cats, woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on
Vice Fringes, the New York Observer, and other publications, she will
also be appearing in the upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely
up to no good shenanigans. You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com
Also, some technical notes:

We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.

Everyone will be provided with gloves.

All animals are disease free.

Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone

Perfect
for beginners, this hands-on class will examine the nutty ways of the
chipmunk! Students will create a fully-finished chipmunk mount in the
naturalistic or anthropomorphic style of their choice. Students will
learn everything involved in producing a finished mount - from initial
preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, to proper technique and dry
preservation. The class will teach a few methods of creating a form to
suit a small animal (sculpting, the age old technique of wrapping, and
carving) and students will have the option of selecting which technique
they would like to use for their piece. The use of anatomical study,
reference photos, and detailed observation will also be reviewed as
important tools in recreating the natural poses and expressions that
magically reanimate a specimen. A selection of naturalistic and
anthropomorphic props will be provided, however, students are welcome to
bring their own bases and accessories if something specific is desired.
All other supplies will be provided for use in class.

In the spirit of the holidays, we will have some extra special Krampus themed props, accessories, and refreshments!

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman, one of the Morbid Anatomy Library's
"taxidermists in residence," is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy
practice was sparked by a lifelong fascination with natural mythology
and everyday oddities. After a journey filled with trial and error,
numerous books, and an inspiring class (Sue Jeiven's popular
Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at Observatory!), she has found
her calling in creating sickly sweet and sparkly critters. Beginning
with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew to include domestic cats,
woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on Vice Fringes, the New York
Observer, and other publications, she will also be appearing in the
upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely up to no good shenanigans.
You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com

Also, some technical notes:

We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.

Everyone will be provided with gloves.

All animals are disease free.

Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone

All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.

Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.

_______________________________________________

Tarantism: Dance, Possession and Exorcism in Southern Italy: Illustrated Lecture and Screening with Chiara Ambrosio
Illustrated Lecture and Screening with Filmmaker and Artist Chiara Ambrosio with Thematic DJed music and Special Cocktails by Friese Undine
Date: Saturday, December 7 (evening)
Time: 8:00
Admission: $10
Presented by Morbid Anatomy** This talk originally premiered at the 2013 Congress of Curious Peoples, London

Tarantism is a form of dance mania that illustrates the complex struggle between Pagnism and Catholicism in the South of Italy.

Its
journey and development- from Greek and Roman times, through the middle
ages and renaissance, straight through to the modern day- traces a
story that transcends the history of medicine and religion to embrace a
vast and complicated conversation about the political and
socio-economical identity of a land, and the continued fight for freedom
and emancipation in an extremely volatile and difficult terrain, both
physical and psychological.

This event will begin with a talk will
exploring Tarantism as a ritualistic spectacle that, through dance and
music, offers a form of resistance and continuation of specific local
histories beliefs and identity. After the talk, Chiara will screen her
film "Time To Go,"which was heavily inspired by the ideas behind the
talk and dance as a form of exorcism. There will also be DJed music and
special artisinal cocktails courtesy of artist Friese Undine.

Chiara Ambrosio is
a filmmaker working with animation, experimental film, documentary and
sound to explore the ways in which we perceive, remember, articulate and
preserve personal and collective histories and place through the filter
of memory and the imagination. Her most recent works include “ A Walk
Through Woods,” a film-cycle developed and filmed on location in North
Cornwall, and “La Frequenza Fantasma (The Ghost Frequency)”, a
feature-length documentary film-poem developed as part of a Fellowship
in the Visual Anthropology department of Goldsmith University and filmed
in a village in the South of Italy. Her first animation was produced
and scored by British composer Michael Nyman, and her subsequent work
has included collaborations with performance artists, musicians and
writers, and has been shown in a number of venues including national and
international film festivals, galleries and site-specific events.
Chiara is also the founder and curator of The Light & Shadow Salon, a
monthly film salon at The Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury. More
information can be found at: www.acuriousroom.com.

For
as long as humankind has been harvesting animals for food and clothing,
we have also been using their bones to create tools, utensils, and art.
A timeless tradition, from ancient to modern times, the possibilities
are endless, and a great way to celebrate the holidays-with a decoration
for your home, or creating a handmade gift for a loved one.

In
this class, we will explore the many ways we can celebrate animals and
our relationship to them by decorating their skulls, bones, and other
parts using a number of materials and methods. Students will be guided
in decorating a small skull, antler shed, or other part of their choice
(from the selection provided). In addition to an assortment of skulls,
bones, and shed antlers, decorative materials provided will include
beads, crystals, expertly dried plants and flowers (Divya's signature
specialty, used in her blooming skull and antler pieces), paints,
finishes, and a number of other materials. Students are also welcome to
bring their own design ideas or special items. There will also be
inspirational images and books available for use.

This class will
teach students everything involved in properly decorating bone in order
to have a lasting piece, including initial cleaning, whitening and
degreasing, any special preparation required based on the ornamentation
of their choice, and a variety of attachment techniques. Tools and
supplies will be provided for use in class.

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman, one of the Morbid Anatomy Library's
"taxidermists in residence," is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy
practice was sparked by a lifelong fascination with natural mythology
and everyday oddities. After a journey filled with trial and error,
numerous books, and an inspiring class (Sue Jeiven's popular
Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at Observatory!), she has found
her calling in creating sickly sweet and sparkly critters. Beginning
with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew to include domestic cats,
woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on Vice Fringes, the New York
Observer, and other publications, she will also be appearing in the
upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely up to no good shenanigans.
You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com

Also, some technical notes:

We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.

Everyone will be provided with gloves.

All animals are disease free.

Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone

Though
frequently overlooked by tourists and locals alike, the holy dead of
Paris continue to haunt the city to this day. The bodies of the saints
are inextricably woven into the city and unlock some of the most
fascinating chapters in the history of Paris.

In this highly illustrated talk, All the Saints You Should Know's
Elizabeth Harper will introduce you to such curiosities as
cephalophores, or decapitated saints like St. Denis, the patron saint of
Paris; incorruptible corpses and their corruptible counterparts
sculpted in wax that reside on the same street; the relics of Roman
Empress St. Helena, the first relic hunter, now hidden away in a small
parish crypt; the bones of 11,000 virgins that never existed; and
finally the relics of the patroness of Paris and her connection the
murder of an Archbishop by an occultist in the 19th century.

Elizabeth Harper writes All the Saints You Should Know, a blog on Catholic relics and lore as well as pieces on saints and sacred destinations for Atlas Obscura.
She is the creator of the "Relics in Rome" map, which pinpoints
hundreds of publicly viewable saints' relics in Rome's 900+ churches.
She was also an organizer and presenter at Death Salon 2013. By day she is a lighting designer for theatre and opera. She's is currently collaborating with Teller from Penn and Teller on "Play Dead" in Los Angeles.

In
this intimate, hands-on class (limited to only five students), we will
study the nutty ways of the squirrel! Students will create a
fully-finished classic squirrel mount in a natural sitting position.
Students will learn everything involved in producing a finished mount -
from initial preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, to proper
technique and dry preservation. The class will offer the option of
creating a form through the age old technique of wrapping and carving a
head, or using a pre-fabricated head and sculpting a body. There will
also be a carcass casting demo, and explanation of how foam mannikins
are made. The use of anatomical study, reference photos, and detailed
observation will also be reviewed as important tools in recreating the
natural poses and expressions that magically reanimate a specimen. A
selection of naturalistic and anthropomorphic props will be provided,
however, students are welcome to bring their own bases and accessories
if something specific is desired. All other supplies will be provided
for use in class.

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman, one of the Morbid Anatomy Library's
"taxidermists in residence," is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy
practice was sparked by a lifelong fascination with natural mythology
and everyday oddities. After a journey filled with trial and error,
numerous books, and an inspiring class (Sue Jeiven's popular
Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at Observatory!), she has found
her calling in creating sickly sweet and sparkly critters. Beginning
with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew to include domestic cats,
woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on Vice Fringes, the New York
Observer, and other publications, she will also be appearing in the
upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely up to no good shenanigans.
You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com

Also, some technical notes:

We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.

Everyone will be provided with gloves.

All animals are disease free.

Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone

Ossuaries,
skull boxes, widows weeds and material substitutions for bodies missing
at sea figure in many travel narratives, popular images and paintings
of Breton coastal culture. Many representations depict the seemingly
anachronistic practice of reburial of the body, several years after its
interment; the ritual function of the ossuary in the churchyard; the
display of individual skull boxes in the church and ossuary; and the
hybrid Celtic-Christian culture of death lore, Toussaint and the Ankou
(grim reaper) in Brittany. A range of artistic topographies have been
written onto the Breton landscape, mapping out an ecology of place,
obsessed with the pervasive nature of death. Maura Coughlin will explore
topics of death, mourning, waste and ecology in coastal Brittany from
about 1850 to 1940.

Maura Coughlin,
after receiving a PhD in Art History from New York University in 2001,
taught at Brown University, RISD and in the art history departments of
several New England Universities. She is now Associate Professor of
Visual Studies at Bryant University. In late fall of 2013, she has
essays related to her talk at Morbid Anatomy being published in two new
collections: Death Tourism: Disaster Sites as Recreational Landscape.
Edited by Brigitte Sion (Seagull Books - Enactments, December 2013 ) and
Women and the Material Culture of Death (Edited by Maureen Daly Goggin
and Beth Fowkes Tobin (Ashgate) November 2013). She also runs the blog
materialbrittany.blogspot.com—a stew of thoughts on visual and material
culture related to Brittany, where mourning, skulls, fish, seaweed,
death and compost all collide—and is working on a film, Danse Macabre,
which uses layers of imagery and sound work to mimic some of the
associations conjured by the fin de siècle fascination with the cult of
death in Brittany._______________________________________________

THE DEVIL - A Celebration and Morbid Anatomy Birthday Party
Illustrated lecture by The Midnight Archive's Ronni Thomas; Artifact Show and Tell; Live Music by Bird Radio; DJed tunes and cocktails by Friese Undine; Sweets by Rachel Ridout; and Morbid Anatomy Birthday Party
Date: Friday, December 13
Time: 8:00
Admission: $12
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

This
Friday the 13th of December, join us for a night of demonic fun as we
explore history’s most elusive and alluring character - The Christian
Devil. Morbid Anatomy filmmaker in Residence Ronni Thomas (themidnightarchive.com)
has a freely admitted obsession with the Devil; tonight he will discuss
his origin, his life, his evolution, and his importance in “three
acts”; early Christianity, middle ages, and romantic-modern era’. We
will also take a look at the Devil’s fascinatingly designed Hell as
perceived by Dante, Tundale, Bosch and many others. How did the Devil go
from being a genuine and terrifying threat to becoming a champion for
the passionate and rebellious? Where did the devil get his horns? What
did 666 represent?

The
event will be interactive through dialogue, art and physical artifacts
provided from Thomas’ own collection and that of Oddities' Evan
Michelson’s private collection. And most importantly the event will
bring our own little devil Joanna Ebenstein (founder of Morbid Anatomy) to her 25th year of age ;) We will also be celebrating the birthday of special guest Chiara Ambrosio. Cocktails by Friese Undine and demonic themed music throughout as well as decorated ambiance and festivities. There will also be live music by London's Bird Radio and sweets by Rachel Ridout. Not to miss-ssssssss…

Ronni Thomas is the Morbid Anatomy Museum Filmmaker in Residence. He is creator of The Midnight Archive
web series is an avid drinker who appreciates both the history of
antique spirits and the effects they have on his self esteem. He is
currently working on a film about Victorian anthropomorphic taxidermist
Walter Potter; more on that here.

Image: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves, 1440; sourced at Metal on Metal

A mystery episode of Ghoul A Go-Go will be shown in a darkened room. Cardone the Ultimate Vaudeville Magician
will be there to astound you with his ultimate Vaudeville magic. Dust
off that old Krampus outfit, because there will be a Krampus Kostume
Kontest with a prize for the best! Instead of a movie, this year
Creighton will be showing clips from his secret stash of bizarre holiday
films.

You'll believe a reindeer can fly!

You will also
have some beer, wine, and an Old Country favorite shot to warm you up!
There will even be a Krampus Kake for those who are into that sort of
thing. It wouldn't be the Observatory if you didn't learn yerself
nuthin'. So, Vlad and Creighton will teach you their style of taxidermy.
Creighton will demonstrate the process right before your eyes. You will
then be given the opportunity to make your own critter (while supplies
last) and a prize awarded for best monstrosity!

* Ghoul A Go-Go “MYSTERY EPISODE” with Vlad & Creighton appearing LIVE!
* CARDONE performing magic!
* Creighton screens his secret stash of bizarre holiday films!
* Taxidermy lesson as taught by Creighton: Everybody will a chance to create their own taxidermied critter!
* Krampus Kostume Kontest with prize awarded to best!
* Brew and spirits from The Old Country! Krampus Kake! More fun than you can beat with a stick!_______________________________________________

If so, you are in luck, and here is why. It is because we have just launched The Morbid Anatomy Museum Gift Shop. And you can find all of these things--and many, many more!--on this gift shop by clicking here.

And. Please note. This is only a first draft; we will be adding artists and objects weekly; click here to join our mailing list and be informed of updates. If you are interested in having your wares considered for sale on the site, please email info [at] morbidanatomymuseum.org.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

I am incredibly excited to announce the newest addition to the greater Morbid Anatomy Project: The Morbid Anatomy Museum!

This new Brooklyn, New York-based space will be an expansion (both physically and conceptually) of The Morbid Anatomy Library, which has been making artifacts, curiosities and books available to the public--as well as hosting classes, lectures, spectacles and field trips--since 2008. The Morbid Anatomy Museum will be a full fledged non-profit museum, complete with an exhibition space showcasing private collections and "things which fall between the cracks;" a research library; a webstore and physical gift shop making available the works of like-minded artists and makers around the world; a larger space for classrooms and lectures; and a bar/café.

Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks and months, but for the time being you may notice some small changes—such as the Morbid Anatomy and Morbid Anatomy Library Facebook pages becoming consolidated into a single Morbid Anatomy Museum page; we should also have the webstore up and running very soon. We are very excited to share this new development with you all, and look forward to sharing a great deal more with you in the coming months. If you'd like to get on the new Morbid Anatomy mailing list and thus be apprised of new developments as they are announced, click here.

Also, if you are interested in letting us know about your own amazing collections, would like to sell your wares in our gift shop, or have ideas for future lectures or classes, you can, as always, email us at morbidanatomylibrary [at] gmail.com.

Hope to see you at tonight's Death in America and the Green Cemetery Movement lecture by funeral director Amy Cunningham at Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Library; come for the lecture and stay for the wine and specially wrapped funeral biscuits!

If that does not interest, we have many more offerings in the weeks and months to come... full info follows. Hope very much to see you at one or more.

_______________________________________________

Death in America and the Green Cemetery Movement
An Illustrated lecture by funeral director Amy Cunningham
Date: Thursday, November 7
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8
Location: Observatory, Brooklyn (543 Union Street (at Nevins), Brooklyn, NY 11215)
Each
year in the U.S., the death care industry buries enough formaldehyde to
fill eight Olympic sized swimming pools, enough metal in caskets form
to rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge, and enough concrete in burial vaults
to construct a two-lane highway running halfway across the country.
While our cemeteries are rich with national and local histories, natural
habitats and remembrances of the dead, they’re also a blazing locus of
waste and pollution.

In tonight's illustrated lecture, funeral
director Amy Cunningham will share the history of American death
practices from Victorian family-centric rituals to contemporary ideas of
the "green cemetery," a grassroots movement dedicated to the
development of ecologically responsible and meaningful end-of-life
rituals.

Amy Cunningham is a New York licensed funeral director
and celebrant who specializes in helping families plan sustainable
end-of-life rituals. A former magazine journalist, she maintains a blog
called TheInspiredFuneral.com.

In
this hands-on class, we will study the wiley ermine! Also known as a
white weasel (they are actually brown in the summer, and turn white in
the winter), this small creature used to be harvested by the hundreds
for the plush robes of royalty-but not so much anymore. It has become
less profitable since they are small animals (and do not yield lots of
fur like the more popular fox or coyote)-so much that the ones used in
class were collected from a game farm and tannery downsizing business
and discarding old stock of unwanted frozen animals. Students will
create a fully-finished mount in a naturalistic or anthropomorphic
position. Students will learn everything involved in producing a
finished mount - from initial preparation, hygiene and sanitary
measures, to proper technique and dry preservation.

The class will teach
how to create a wrapped body form using the ermine's own body as
reference. Students will have the choice of cleaning and reconstructing
the skull, or carving one using the natural one as reference. The use of
anatomical study, reference photos, and detailed observation will also
be reviewed as important tools in recreating the natural poses and
expressions that magically reanimate a specimen. A selection of props
will be provided, however, students are welcome to bring their own bases
and accessories if something specific is desired. All other supplies
will be provided for use in class.

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman
is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy practice was sparked by a
lifelong fascination with natural mythology and everyday oddities. After
a journey filled with trial and error, numerous books, and an inspiring
class (Sue Jeiven's popular Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at
Observatory!), she has found her calling in creating sickly sweet and
sparkly critters. Beginning with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew
to include domestic cats, woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on
Vice Fringes, the New York Observer, and other publications, she will
also be appearing in the upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely
up to no good shenanigans. You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com
Also, some technical notes:

We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.

Everyone will be provided with gloves.

All animals are disease free.

Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone

All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.

Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.

_______________________________________________

Mother Machine: an ‘Uncanny Valley’ in the Eighteenth Century
Illustrated lecture with Dr. Brandy Schillace

Known
by a variety of names—“this most curious machine,” “this mock woman,”
and the “celebrated Apparatus” —Dr. William Smellie’s mechanized
obstetrical phantom was both science and spectacle in the eighteenth
century. Strangely, however, though crucial to the training of at least
900 man-midwives in ten years, the machine disappears from both the
actual and rhetorical "scene" of 18th-century obstetrical science.

This
illustrated talk will explore the mitigating factors contributing to
the machine's disappearance. Why was such a valuable teaching tool
auctioned to the public after Smellie’s death? Why did famed
obstetrician William Hunter agree to sell his own copy of the machine to
Dr. Foster of the Dublin Rotunda? And why—after so much popular
debate—does the machine disappear from public notice by the latter part
of the century? Dr. Schillace will also document her own rather
circuitous journey of discovery, that is, the necessary labor of
unearthing (if not birthing) a medical artifact’s unusual history.Dr. Brandy Schillace
is an interdisciplinary, medical-humanist scholar. She writes about
cultural production, history of science, and intersections of medicine
and literature. She is the managing editor of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry,
an international journal of cross-cultural health research and a guest
curator and blogger for the Dittrick Medical History Museum. Dr.
Schillace was the keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the
Archivists and Librarians in the History of Health Sciences 2013, and is
the recent recipient of the Chawton House Library Fellowship (for study
of 18th century women writers) and the Wood Institute travel grant from
the Philadelphia College of Physicians. She has also an edited book
collection under contingent contract with Cambria Press: Birthing the Monster of Tomorrow: Unnatural Reproductions. For a selection of recently published work, please visit http://fictionreboot-dailydose.com/publications-and-press.

Image: A
late eighteenth-century “birthing phantom.” Unlike Smellie’s machine,
these were not intended to be exactly like the living body, but rather a
basic replica allowing midwives to understand the position of the child
in the birth canal. By permission of the Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum
_______________________________________________

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is often read as a narrative of reverse colonization, revealing fears of degeneration at the fin de siècle.
Anxieties over the decline of empire and—as both symptom and
consequence—the degeneration of masculinity in Victorian Britain
resulted in a number of dystopic narratives, each revealing an uneasy
relationship between evolution and devolution, sexuality, sexual
identity and mental health. However, the signal terror of Stoker’s
vampires lies not only in their overt sexuality and promiscuity—but also
in their fecundity. As Van Helsing warns, the vampire is not a single
foe but a potential army. Both “father” and unnatural mother, Count
Dracula is capable of reproducing the undead—and yet his victims do not,
it seems reproduce themselves.

In this presentation Dr. Schillace
will explore accounts of syphilitic infection as a means of
understanding the complexities of infection among the “innocents,” Lucy
Westenra and the children she victimizes. Culminating in a
re-examination of the only human birth in Stoker’s novel—Mina Harker’s
son Quincy—this project seeks to provide new insight into 19th century
anxieties about degeneration’s naissance.

Dr. Brandy Schillace
is an interdisciplinary, medical-humanist scholar. She writes about
cultural production, history of science, and intersections of medicine
and literature. She is the managing editor of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry,
an international journal of cross-cultural health research and a guest
curator and blogger for the Dittrick Medical History Museum. Dr.
Schillace was the keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the
Archivists and Librarians in the History of Health Sciences 2013, and is
the recent recipient of the Chawton House Library Fellowship (for study
of 18th century women writers) and the Wood Institute travel grant from
the Philadelphia College of Physicians. She also an edited book
collection under contingent contract with Cambria Press: Birthing the Monster of Tomorrow: Unnatural Reproductions. For a selection of recently published work, please visit http://fictionreboot-dailydose.com/publications-and-press.
_______________________________________________

In
this intimate, hands-on class (limited to only six students), we will
study the happy and hoppy rabbit! Students will create a fully-finished
rabbit mount in a naturalistic or anthropomorphic position. There is
also the option to create a "trophy style" shoulder mount (where the
head and shoulder is mounted on a wooden plaque). When purchasing
ticket, please specify which you would like to do.

Students will
learn everything involved in producing a finished mount - from initial
preparation, hygiene and sanitary measures, to proper technique and dry
preservation. The class will teach how to create a wrapped body form
using the rabbit's own body as reference, and how to reconstruct a
rabbit head using the skull as reference. Students will also be
introduced to the techniques of ear turning and ear carding. The use of
anatomical study, reference photos, and detailed observation will also
be reviewed as important tools in recreating the natural poses and
expressions that magically reanimate a specimen. A selection of props
will be provided, however, students are welcome to bring their own bases
and accessories if something specific is desired. All other supplies
will be provided for use in class.

Each student will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future.

Divya Anantharaman
is a Brooklyn based artist whose taxidermy practice was sparked by a
lifelong fascination with natural mythology and everyday oddities. After
a journey filled with trial and error, numerous books, and an inspiring
class (Sue Jeiven's popular Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class at
Observatory!), she has found her calling in creating sickly sweet and
sparkly critters. Beginning with mice and sparrows, her menagerie grew
to include domestic cats, woodchucks, and deer. Recently profiled on
Vice Fringes, the New York Observer, and other publications, she will
also be appearing in the upcoming season of Oddities-and is definitely
up to no good shenanigans. You can find out more at www.d-i-v-y-a.com

Also, some technical notes:

We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.

Everyone will be provided with gloves.

All animals are disease free.

Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone

All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.

Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.

Full list and more information on all events can be found here. More on the Morbid Anatomy Art Academy can be found here.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Happy Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos! Above are some photos of the decorations and festivities we saw in Mexico City ramping up to the big day. To see a full collection of photos, click here. More soon!